Bowls teams stripped of points

Bowls teams stripped of points

SEVEN Ballarat District Bowls Division clubs have been stripped of points for breaching a player eligibility rule last weekend.

Webbcona’s division one team is among those to lose points gained from round 15 matches for ﬁelding too many players from higher grades.

Mt Xavier (division three), Sebastopol (divisions four and six), Victoria (division five), Ballarat Memorial Sports (division five), City Oval (division nine) and Avenue (division nine) were also in breach of rule 13.4.2, which states: for the last four rounds of sectional play, no side shall include more than three players who have played the majority of their games during the season in a higher numbered division/s.

BDBD secretary Rod Lindsay said the match committee was alerted to the breaches and handed down sanctions following a meeting on Thursday night.

Lindsay said he didn’t believe clubs had deliberately tried to cheat the system.

“It has been an inadvertent breaking of the rules. They have tried to use the rules to their advantage,” he said.

Lindsay said one of seven offending clubs lodged an appeal against the match committee’s ﬁndings, but was knocked back.

“The match committee made the decision in accordance to the rules... they followed the rules to the letter,” he said.

“It is a very clear rule, provided people have read it and understand it clearly.”

Lindsay said the infringing teams’ opponents would receive maximum points for the round 15 matches.

Meanwhile, today’s premier league bowls fixtures have been cancelled.

The abandonment follows the Geelong region calling off its entire pennant ﬁxtures due to the forecast heat.